According to some estimates, up to 80 percent of all infections are spread by hands. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states the most important way to prevent the transmission of bacteria and dangerous diseases is to wash hands frequently with soap and water. However, when soap and water are unavailable, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, which, when used correctly, kill 99.9 percent of germs within 30 seconds after application.
Liquid alcohol-based hand sanitizers work by destroying the outer protein layer of viruses and bacteria, effectively rendering the pathogens ineffective. Although hand sanitizers were invented in the 1960s, they did not gain popularity until the late 1990s when viral outbreaks such as the H1N1 flu virus led to concern regarding sanitation in public areas. Thus, prior to the last decade, hand sanitizers were typically found mostly in clinical and food service settings. Now hand sanitizers are prevalent in households, grocery stores, office buildings, and other public facilities.
Dispensers for soap, lotion, and skin care products are well known. Most individuals encounter liquid dispensers for hand sanitizers, as well as other liquids including soap, lotion, and skin care products, multiple times throughout their daily routine. These dispensers come in various forms such as wall mounts, bottles, bags, and tubes. They are dispensed in various ways and may be refilled after being exhausted and others are simply disposed of once exhausted. Some liquid dispensers utilize sensors to dispense liquids, while others require manual operation by, for example, squeezing a tube or compressing a pump. The liquid is contained inside of these dispensers and can be refilled by bags, cartridges, tubes, or manually refilling from one dispenser to another. The liquid within the bottles, bags, and tube dispensers are usually engaged by using one's hand to squeeze, shake, or pour the liquid into one's hand for use.
The liquid dispensers can be found on walls, on surfaces such as counters or desks, and carried inside personal carriers such as backpacks purses, messenger bags, and briefcases. They may also be attached to personal carriers such as backpacks, purses, messenger bags, and briefcases. They may also be attached to personal carriers by a ring, hook, clip, or band.
It is common for hand sanitizer dispensers to be located on desks, mounted on walls, or otherwise located in visible areas where their use would be most beneficial. The wall mounted dispensers generally use a collapsible bag that contains the liquid. The bag has an attached compact fluid pump or valve. The bag is simply placed in the dispenser with the compact fluid pump or valve properly seated where it will project or expel the liquid from the bag. Liquid is dispensed onto the hand by a hand-operated lever which depresses and activates the compact fluid pump or valve. Examples of this can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,916 and other variations of the general theme. The prior art referred to and other prior art well known to those versed in this art know that these wall mount dispensers are of standard size and are confined to walls in bathrooms, washrooms, and throughout public facilities.
The physical presence of a wall mounted hand sanitizer dispenser serves as a visual reminder for employees, patrons, or habitants of a home to utilize the wall mounted hand sanitizer dispenser to limit the spread of bacteria and viruses.
In stark contrast, portable hand sanitizer dispensers located within a purse, messenger bag, backpack, or even in the user's pocket cannot serve as a visual reminder to use the hand sanitizer and may cause users to forget to use a hand sanitizer liquid when it would be the most beneficial to do so. Typical portable dispensers are in the form of bottles, bags, and tubes and often are confined to locations such as personal carriers, pockets, drawers, and surfaces.
In addition to the lack of a visual reminder, small portable hand sanitizer dispensers are also not immediately available to a user for quick access and instead require the individual to look through their purse, bag, backpack, etc., in order to locate the portable dispenser. In certain situations, not having quick and easy access to hand sanitizer fluid from a portable dispenser is problematic. For example, police officers who frequently encounter multiple individuals and locations have a need to sanitize their hands quickly and frequently. For those police officers, attempting to find a hand sanitizer portable dispenser located in a bag or police car is cumbersome and time consuming. Teachers, nurses, food service providers and numerous other professionals have a similar need for quick and frequent access to a hand sanitizer portable dispenser. The lack of quick and easy access to a hand sanitizer results in less frequent use of a hand sanitizer than would ordinarily be desired.
Additionally, the mere act of gaining access to a hand sanitizer portable dispenser stored in a purse or pocket would risk transmitting any germs located on the user's hands to that stored location. For example, an individual who touched a contaminated surface and desired to use a hand sanitizer portable dispenser stored in her purse to sanitize her hands likely will use her contaminated hands to reach into the purse to retrieve the hand sanitizer dispenser, thus contaminating the interior of the purse.
Even once retrieved, conventional portable dispensers containing hand sanitizers and other liquids typically require the removal of a cap or lid in order to dispense the liquid. These caps or lids are typically required to minimize the possibility that the liquid hand sanitizer could spill or leak into a user's backpack, purse, pocket, etc. Therefore, a user with contaminated hands risks cross contaminating the cap or lid when attempting to use a conventional portable hand sanitizer dispenser. If the cap is simply discarded, conventional dispensers will simply leak and risk damage to their exposed dispensing components. After sanitizing their hands, a user must again touch the cross-contaminated cap or lid in order to close the same defeating the entire purpose of sanitizing their hands in the first place.
Should a user wish to avoid cross-contaminating their purse, bag or pocket, the user cannot easily wear conventional portable hand sanitizer dispensers. Moreover, the mere act of wearing a conventional portable hand sanitizer in the form of a bottle or tube might subject the user to possible ridicule in certain work or social environments, as most of these portable dispensers are not functional as outerwear or aesthetically pleasing.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a portable liquid dispenser that reduces the likelihood of cross-contamination, is quickly accessible, and serves as a visual reminder to apply hand sanitizer more frequently.